This invention relates to an attachment for grasping the axle of trucks for loading the truck for towing and the like, and more particularly to an attachment which has spaced tangs for cradling the axle therebetween, one of the tangs being fixed and the other tang being mounted for movement relatively to the fixed tang for permitting rapid and safe capture of low lying axles.
When loading a truck for lifting and towing, the front axle of the truck is supported on a pair of spaced apart troughs or U-shaped cradles between the leading and trailing upstanding walls thereof. These axle engaging cradles are removably carried by a cross-bar which is pivotably connected about a vertical axis to the lifting and towing boom of the towing vehicle, and thus the cradles are known in the art as truck axle attachments.
The known truck axle attachments have the upstanding walls and the base therebetween constructed as a unitary member. The walls, must for safety purposes, be relatively high so that the axle can be supported on the base therebetween without slipping off when being towed. However, a problem is presented for trucks having front axles lying low to the ground since there is no clearance for the rear wall of the cradle to slip under the axle. In these instances the tow truck operator must remove the attachments from the cross-bar, slide the cross-bar beneath the axle and lift the truck with the cross-bar. After the truck has been lifted sufficiently, blocks are placed under the front tires and the truck is set back down with the tires supported on the blocks. With the axle thus raised, the rear wall of the attachment will slide under the axle. The attachments are then reinserted into the cross-bar and the cross-bar is then raised to cradle the axle in the attachment and the blocks are then removed.
The difficulties presented by the prior art truck axle attachments thus include the inconvenience of requiring the additional steps involved in raising the truck to block up the tires, reinserting the attachments to engage the axle and then removing the blocks. Additionally, and of even greater importance, is the hazard involved in lifting the truck on the cross-bar without the attachments, since there is then no means presented for preventing the truck from moving and falling off the cross-bar.